Rosetta spacecraft preparation
author: ESA/A. Van der Geest/Novapix
reference: e-son30-00100
Image Size 300 DPI: 28 * 32 cm
Testing Rosetta in the ESA/ESTEC Test Centre. The mission goal is a rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. On its journey to the comet, the spacecraft will fly by close to two asteroids. The spacecraft will map the comet's surface in fine detail and land a package of instruments (the Rosetta Lander) to study some of the most primitive, un-processed material in the solar system. The mission will provide clues to the physical and chemical processes that marked the systems beginning 4.6 billion years ago.
Rosetta was launched on march 2 2004 by an Ariane-5 from Kourou, French Guiana